Reasons y the eastend hoods are dying
This is all perspective, no pollies involved
Galloway/G-Way: hood’s never rlly been able 2 recover after the constant raids a decade ago. A lotta OGs were allegedly knocked 2
Orton Park: They basically the cities most hated they the real definition of EBK. They j gotta stay out da way n get they bag i ain’t hating
Malvern: Used to be a dirty unmaintained hood. Now, more innocents purchase homes in da area bcs of inflation. This leaves sum blocks less active as they’re a mix of affordable & low income metro housing. They OGs r everywhere too, mans frm da same block claimin diff sets 😭🤦🏿‍♂️
Flemo Park: Inflation gentrified the area. It used 2 b a low income area w/ metro housing complexes & cheap apartments/condos. Now, immigrants came & apartment rates started increasing. The condos there r also more demandable as it’s close 2 dt. This overall leaves the block less active 🤷🏾‍♂️
GlendoweSilverSprings: During the early 2000s this block was mainly known 4 tamil gang politics (& other shit). Nowadays, there’s hardly any violence on the block & all da youngins grow up with rich asian yutes as the surrounding neighbourhood is an asian filled suburb😭
MnE 081: Can’t lie, not sure y this block isn’t as violent as it was in the 90s/2000s. Ion think it has been gentrified & i’m pre sure it’s one of the bigger project buildings in Scarbs? i could b wrong.
Cataraqui/Block 13: Like Malvern, internal politics j killed da block. There’s also hardly any violence on the block no more so they ain’t well known as they should be 🤷🏾‍♂️
Northside Don Mills: It’s a high demand area around Fairview Mall so the government tore down a lot of buildings to build condos. Gentrification killed it.
Roywood/Parkwoods: This block is surrounded by a suburban community with barely any metro housing. Most the ppl in the subsidized housing here are old white ppl 😂
Parma Court: These niggaz r just bullies atp I have nun to say 😭
Chester Le: The main block is small surrounded by an asian suburban community. Most of the guys on this street grow up around wealthier ppl. When they fall victim to anything, they link brand names frm different hoods n throw 10s down 😭😭

Hello, im writing to ask has the legacy edition/4J studios minecraft been removed from the game now? i own the game digitally and decided to go back to legacy edition just to see the "Editions" button has been removed. is there any way to access the legacy edition of minecraft on ps5 digitally now? or is it gone forever?!

Way Library is hosting another one of its Starcraft LAN parties in the Technology Lab on 6/12/24 from 6:00pm-8:30pm. Registration for the event has just opened up and as of the time of this writing, still has ten slots left. If you're interested you can sign up via the link below or at the registration desk.
https://waylibrary.libcal.com/event/12353810
This time around, the library has upgraded to newer computers. Game formats will include both co-op and PVP. Just as an FYI though, the head of the event said the library's earbuds aren't the best, so if you want to keep your game audio to yourself, you may want to bring your own headphones.
The head of the event plans to continue having LAN parties for this and other games in the future. For example, all of the computers also have the original Unreal Tournament installed on them. If there is any game the community is interested in playing at a LAN party in the future, you may want to consider bringing it up to Travis McAfee as he is open to future suggestions. If there is sufficient demand, it could help open up some cool new events.
This event is still a few weeks out, so if you know anyone that would be interested in attending, feel free to spread the word. I look forward to seeing you all there :)

I want to keep this short and sweet, with as many facts as possible since I tend to ramble, and give unnecessary details for the sake of transparency. If there are any questions I will of course answer them, or give clarification where needed.
Here’s what’s relevant:

• I worked at Ulta from August 2022 - April 2024
  
• I started as a PBA while I went through Cos school and transitioned into the Salon on my 1 year Ultaversary
  
• Never had I ever met our LP team, let alone director. Nor had I ever gotten a write up, a suspension, etc. (I did have a verbal coaching for attendance)
  

-My salon training consisted of 4 hours of watching videos that explained the stylist leveling system, how commission worked, how Ulta Academy worked, and how red lines/dots worked in the salon in terms of monthly take overs.
-My Salon Manager (EM I think the title is) worked the complete opposite of my schedule, so everything I needed came down to texting her, often outside of my working hours (as per her response time).

• I was not aware that you couldn’t give discounts to people you weren’t directly married to, the domestic partner of, or the parent of (I’m engaged, not married and I wasn’t corrected on this until mid-January 2024 where I promptly addressed some concerns with management and made changes)
  
• I always made sure that a manager checked out a ticket for anyone I was close personal friends or family with to avoid this exact incident happening.
  
• I only used the 10% off discount (I’m not arguing that this is theft of services, or that I did it). This discount appears 6 times all under my fiance’s name. 3/6 were first time visits. His mom and his sister booked under his name initially because they don’t have loyalty accounts and they thought using their names in the salon was signing up for one. I made management aware of this, and they said it should be fine. The other 3 discounts were “illegal” for lack of a better term.
  

On April 1st I was terminated, 2 hours into a 5 hour shift. I was allowed to finish two makeup clients (I was the only established Mua at the time). I even stopped to speak with managers about green dots when I clocked in, and then went on my way uninterrupted.
I guess I’m frustrated because all of this came to light after an internal investigation was started for theft of product off the floor discovered by another associate, and made its way into the salon. Since then I have gotten a hold of HR once due to never receiving my exit interview, and I have been contacted by a former coworker who has been told I’m blaming her for my being fired.
What should I do from here? Does any of this sound shady, or am I naively grasping at straws? (I guess this isn’t so short, but I tried to keep emotion out of it)

Ferris Bueller, Axel Foley, Peter Venkman, Marty McFly, John McClane, The Dude even, just to name a few
I can’t think of many modern movies that aren’t based off a pre-existing franchise or IP, with a memorable, quotable, zeitgeisty main character that wasn’t some action hero or government operative.
I also don’t know movies perfectly, but I asked ChatGPT and here’s who it suggested, which I think is way off base:

1. Max from Mad Max Fury Road (action hero, fantasy world)
   
2. Casey Newton, Tomorrowland
   
3. Chris Washington from Get Out
   
4. Lee Abbott from A Quiet Place
   
5. Dani Ardor from Midsommar
   

Now that I think about it, most of those movies are mostly relevant for the stories they tell, not the characters they portray.
Am I wrong in feeling like past cinema was character driven while newer cinema is story driven?

I woke up with a cough of blood and pain. I felt something metal with my hands as I looked down. A long stint of rebar poked out of my ribcage and through my chest plate, covered in a mix of my blood and the bile of a bug.
I reached down and grabbed my Senator, feeling its trusty weight in my hands. I haphazardly tried to place the barrel against the portion of rebar sticking out of my back. This had better work I though. I pulled the trigger once and with a loud Crack I felt the vibration from the shot in my stomach. I tried to choke down vomit and pulled the trigger twice more Crack, Crack. With the third shot the rebar gave way and I rolled to my side and collapsed on the ground. Agony shot through my body as I hit the dirt.
I realized then, Hmmph, they left me. During Extraction one of the other divers called in a 500kg as we were about to board Pelican 1. She had thrown it over one of those damned chargers in an effort to kill one last bug but... it started charging us. I was the last one in line and just as I was about to board... i was thrown 200 feet away from extraction site. I don't blame them. I'd have left me too. We had successfully evacuated a number of scientists and other military personnel, but we'd lost the planet. No hard feelings I guess.
I tried to pull my mind away from those thoughts and just focused on one. Survive. I pulled myself to my knees and looked at the rebar again. Cant park there bud I thought tryna cheer myself up. I had dropped my senator when I fell and ended up with two free hands. I reached down and with the assistance of my servo-assited armor prepared to wrench the rebar from my chest. Alright, count of three, I thought. One mye heartrate quickened. Two I adjusted my grip ever so slightly. Three I ripped the metal r9d out and felt a hot stinging pain shoot through my body. I quickly grabbed as stim and applied it.
I winced as the stim numbed my broken ribs and began rapidly working to heal them and my open chest wound. After a couple seconds, I could stand.
I took quick stock of my inventory. My Senator with 23 rounds left, two ration packs, a canteen of water, 1 stim, a knife, and a bag of oatmeal. Oatmeal? Seriously? I'd rather have ammo but... beggars can't be choosers.
I looked around me. Snow and beaten down rubble surrounded me. This was some kind of research station, I think. Didn't bother grabbing the name. Cold as hell and nothing really around to get my bearings. Great. I thought. Im gonna die inside a freezer. I started looking through the rubble for anything useful. I found a corpse of one of the scientists that hadnt made it to evac. I grabbed the ID card off his jacket. Figured id get me inside a building if there were any left standing. I crawled out of the rubble and onto the snowy tundra.
The sun had set and with it most of the light I wouldve been able to utilize. I scanned the horizon for a blinking light. Blinking like meant beacon. Beacon meant possible radio, maybe some ammo. I clocked one to the southwest and began walking that direction senator drawn.
I spotted a few distant bug patrols illuminated by moonlight but they had no interest in me. I kept my head down and kept moving towards the light. Details started to take shape and I could see this was a research station. Perfect I thought.
I reached the door and used the key card. There was a Beep and the red light flashed green. The door cracked open before jamming. Oh no you dont I thought and with one hand yanked the door open. I closed it behind me with the same hand to keep the wildlife disinterested.
Inside was dark and damp. I had list the seal integrity on my suit so there was barely any oxygen regulation. Didnt need it on this planet but still. Its a bitch to fix. I turned my flashlight on and started scanning the room for a light switch. I found one but wouldnt ya know it... dead. At least the beacon had power. I walked over to the radio and pulled off my helmet. I wedged the flashlight in my neck and leaned my head to the side. I started flipping switched and turning dials to see if there was a response. Nothing. Id have to find the master terminal. I grabbed the flashlight and donned my helmet again. I began scanning the room again before I heard it. A little shuffle behind me. I turned quickly and drew my senator raising it at the source of the sound.
It was a small child. At least... thats what it appeared to be. At first glance I could see bindings on its legs and arms. A hospital gown with little ducklings on it and a teddy bear tucked under its arm. I lowered my senator as it spoke.
"Dr. Mehon told me to wait here. He said hed be right back."
Dr. Mehon was probably dead I thought. I knelt down and put my hand on the child shoulder. "Whats your name kid?"
"3". I felt a rage build up. I swallowed it quickly.
"Well 3, what uh... why.. why do you have bin.." I stopped myself. Whatever those scientists were doing here...
3 looked up at me and I noticed it. A cat like set of eyes. Other little details started to click as well. Four fingers on each hand, slightly pointed ears, a discoloration of skin and a rigid scale-like spine on the shoulder.
"The radio doesnt work mister." 3 seemed to have understood their situation. "Dr Mehon destroyed it before he left."
I realized then that it was unlikely either of us would make it off this planet alive.
Part coming soon? Depending on how this one does.

You guys know what an alpine coaster is? They are like a small roller coaster you find in the mountains. They are also called summer toboggans or mountain coasters and I think there’s some long German compound word they are called in parts of Europe. They are like a roller coaster, but with much smaller one or two person sleds you just sit on instead of multi-person cars you ride in, and instead of being built with like a scaffolding or a framework the tracks are just on the ground, using the elevation of the mountain. Basically it’s a coaster track on the side of a mountain where you ride a sled down.
They are pretty fun. Or at least I used to think so. They are more “personal” than roller coasters and although you get nowhere near the speed on them that you do on a good traditional roller coaster and they can’t do corkscrews or loops or anything like that the openness and simplicity of the ride gives an impression of a much greater speed. You’re just sitting there with nothing but a little plastic sled and the track between you and the ground as it goes zooming by. It’s like the difference between how fast a go-cart feels compared to how fast a sports car feels. You know the sports car goes faster but the open, simpleness of a go-cart feels a different kind of fast. There’s plenty of POV Youtube videos if you want to get the basic idea of what they are.
I used to love alpine coasters. Used to.
My family used to go to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and up and down the Smokey Mountains for vacations when I was a kid and they are common in that area and I’d always rode them every chance I got.
But as with so many things after I grew up and went to college they just became part of my childhood that slipped away. They aren’t exactly common once you get away from the mountains.
Until one cool spring afternoon in 2004. I was in my final year at college and I was driving back to campus in Tennessee after a short visit to my folks in North Carolina. It was only like a 4 or 5 hour drive via the most efficient route and I had no need to be back at campus early so instead of taking the freeway all the way I got off and took part of my trip through the mountains. The scenery was nicer and I admit I liked pushing my Camaro just a little faster than I should through the twisty mountain roads.
Just after lunchtime happened upon one of those little by-the-highway tourist towns deep somewhere in the Smoky Mountains near the Carolina/Tennessee border. Nothing fancy, a gas station/truck stop, a diner, a couple of places selling tourist merch nestled deep in the mountains. I pulled into the gas station. My tank was getting low and I needed to stretch my legs, maybe grab something to eat. It was still early and I only had another couple of hours. I could kill an hour or so and still make it back to campus at a decent hour.
I pulled into the gas station and was filling my tank when I happened to glance across the road and… well I’ll be damned. There it was. “The Blue Ridge Alpine Coaster.” Nestled on the side of the mountain was a building, a mockup of a red barn, where a single railed track that led up into the mountains, where it soon got lost in the greenery. Wooden hand painted standees of cartoon character bears dressed in stereotypical “Hillbilly” getup stood around, some of them holding signs showing the ride hours and ticket costs and other info. I had to admit, as silly as it was, it made me smile.I finished pumping my gas and, well, nostalgia is a helluva thing. I decided then and there I could waste a little time riding an Alpine Coaster again after all these years before getting back on the road.
I parked my car in a corner of the truck stop's parking lot, put my phone in the center console, this being the days before smart phones when people didn’t keep their phones with them 24/7 and I didn’t want my old Nokia brick phone to fall out during the ride, locked my car and walked across the mountain highway to the Alpine Coaster building.
Getting closer, the place was less inviting. The half hearted attempt at a whimsical faux-Americana kitsch was far less effective when it brushed up against the actual decaying, run down wooden building. Hell calling it a building was generous. It was a wood frame holding up a long roof that covered the area where you got on the sleds. The wood boards creaked under my footsteps.
The only real enclosed structure was a shack that held, what I assumed, was a ticket booth. A door on the side had both a single occupancy bathroom with an out of order sign on it. An old Pepsi machine buzzed and glowed next to it.
Still the place looked alive. Ahead of me a bored looking attendant was helping a mother and her young son into one of the sleds while in a bored monotone repeating the safety brief. A few people were waiting in line at the ticket booth. Up in the mountains the playful shouts of people on the ride echoed down. Fond memories of my own childhood rides flooded my mind.10 minutes and 15 dollars later I was settling into the hard plastic seat of a bright red sled sat atop a simple aluminum rail.
I couldn’t help but grin as the sled slowly climbed the track up the mountains, making click-clack ratcheting sounds that hit my nostalgia centers hard. I felt good. The air was cool and crisp and smelled of pine.Higher and higher in the mountains we went. I don’t know if this is my mind trying to make sense of it after the fact but when I remember these moments, the last good moments, I sometimes think I remember a very slight, very subtle pit of fear in my stomach. I honestly don’t know if I felt it at the time or not or it’s just how my mind tries to make sense of it looking back at.
But either way mostly I was enjoying myself. I smiled. I was a kid again. I could hear riders in front of me let out that initial yell of terrified glee you get at the first drop of any good ride.
It peaked. I glanced around. I could see for miles, rolling hills and mountains. I the sled tipped over and zoomed down the mountain and I let out the same happy yell I heard from the other passengers.The ride zoomed down the mountain, catching speed. The mountain forest floor zoomed past, only a few feet under me. Trees zoomed past. I gave out a happy whoop as the ride banked hard around a curve and then looped back under itself.Another dip, another curve. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of the G-forces pulling me every which way.
There was no one exact single moment where things started to go “wrong.” The ride kept going. And going. At this point the first creeping thought entered my head.
The ride… was still going.
It just started to hit me… this ride was going on for a really long time. I had taken a dozen rides on various coasters of this type before that day and they topped out at about 5 minutes or so, and that was the long ones. Longer than a traditional roller coaster but not that long. This one had been going on for what felt like 10, maybe even 15 minutes.
I looked back over my shoulder and could only see trees, moving too fast to really get a bearing on where I was at in relation to anything.
I wasn't exactly really worried yet. Okay so I had found a particularly long alpine coaster. At the time I wasn’t 100% wasn't sure they didn’t exist or anything like that. I was a little… unnerved but nothing was happening that was impossible. Yet.
I was trying to talk myself back into just enjoying the ride and stop overthinking it, and halfway succeeded, when out of nowhere I suddenly banked hard, the track jutting out almost over a sheer cliffside. I gripped the sled more tightly as I was whipped around. The ride then dipped hard and picked up speed, barreling down the side of the mountain.
I was pushed back against the seat by the force of the drop. Jesus I didn’t remember them being this rough. I was feeling slightly nauseous. And where had this elevation drop come from I wondered? I was still in the foothills and I didn’t remember seeing anything but gentle rolling hills and light drops from looking at the ride’s route earlier. How the ride had managed such a long, steep drop in this area I didn’t know. . For the first time I hoped that the ride would be over soon. I had no idea then how much I would want that same hope to be true so much more as time went on.
With a whiplash motion I was whipped forward and then back as the ride leveled out on flat ground again, but by this point I was going fast, too fast. My neck hurt from the mild whiplash and I felt sour in my throat and for a moment the contents of my stomach threatened to come back up. For the first, but hardly the last time the ride felt unsafe. Alpine Coasters are tame affairs, much slower and gentler than full on roller coasters but this thing was throwing me around like no thrill ride I had ever been on.
I looked around. I mean I wasn’t that deep into the woods. I should have been able to see a glimpse of something; the highway, the gas station, the tourist shops, the Alpine Coaster office, something, anything. But nothing. Just trees.
I forced back some panic for the first time. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. The ride zoomed along. I counted to 60. I counted to 60 again. And again. Okay this was getting uncomfortably harder and harder to explain.
Suddenly I noticed that up ahead the track seemed to just end, for one brief, terrible moment I thought the track just ended but I was wrong. Almost without warning the track dipped in an almost vertical drop. I almost screamed as I plummeted for 20, maybe 30 seconds before flattening out again.
By this point the voice in my head that was telling me something was wrong was louder and I could no longer tell myself it was wrong. This ride could not have been this long. I tried to make sense of it, wondering if somehow I had gotten diverted onto some kind of maintenance track or, hell for one brief irrational moment even entertaining the idea that I had wound up on an actual train track somehow. But that was absurd. The rail below me was not a train track, it was still just the simple, aluminum rail of an alpine coaster and there had been no diversions or junctions in the track. I was still on the ride, as insane as that was starting to feel. Had the ride somehow looped? Again after having the thought I immediately dismissed it as crazy. There’s no way I could have missed the ride building where I got on. And what kind of ride loops over and over?
The sled zoomed through the forest, oddly never seeming to lose speed despite the relatively flat grade of the track. I cursed myself for leaving my phone in the car and not wearing a watch. I don’t know exactly how long I had been on the ride at that point but it felt like I had been on the ride for a half hour, maybe more. But time is a funny thing when you’re in a situation you’ve never been in. Could have been more, could have been less, at that point.
My pride finally failed me. I started to scream for help. I screamed out that the ride was broken, to stop it, that I needed help. I did that for about ten minutes or so I think. The ride kept going. Mostly flat, level track with occasional mild dips and turns. But the simple length of the ride grew more and more unnerving and unexplainable.
I thought about just bailing out. But the ride, impossibly, was still not slowing down and chunks of mountain rock and thick tree trunks were all around me. Bailing out without risking smashing into a rock or a tree seemed impossible.
The ride kept going.
Up ahead the forest was clearing out some, I could see the forest brightening, more sunlight making it through the canopy.
I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.
The trees stopped and I had just enough time to take in a flat, open area of rock maybe 40, 50 yards at most before another sheer cliff. The tracks twisted and turned and then shot straight down. But that wasn’t the worst of it. For a moment, a very short moment, I had a clear view for miles and the landscape was, to be blunt, totally impossible. Any possibility that I had just stumbled on some incredibly long ride was blasted out of my head. Barren, volcanic looking rock stretched for miles. Jagged, black rocky outcroppings as far as the eye could see. I was in the goddamn Smoky Mountains. They don’t look like that.
I had a few moments for the terror of that view to settle in before the cart plunged into another horrifying drop. I gripped the handles of the cheap plastic sled until my knuckles turned white. The drop felt completely vertical, like I was falling at terminal velocity. I screamed. My stomach dropped and turned. I imagined the sled coming away from the track and me just plummeting screaming to my death on the rocks below. But somehow the ride still functioned. I closed my eyes tightly and just waited for whatever was going to happen. Eventually after several what felt like a full minute of steep plunging the track again leveled out, and I opened my eyes to see myself moving at breakneck speed over that black, rocky landscape.
Now that I was moving on a more or less flat horizontal track again I took a few deep breaths. I looked over the edge of the track. Nothing but that black, jagged rock, almost looking like obsidian, zooming past. I had no idea how fast the sled was moving now. Fast. Faster than a gravity powered sled should be moving. And the track was higher off the ground now. Alpine slides usually stick pretty close to the ground, but I was 20 feet or so in the air, the track suspended in the air, a simple metal tube tower like a power pylon every few yards.
Without any immediate threat and the sled moving fast but steadily and level I was able to think about my situation again, for all the good that did me. Ahead of me the track just continued to the horizon, nothing but the same rocky landscape as far as I could see. I craned my neck to look back over my shoulder and looked back behind me and it looked the same. Even the mountains were but distant specs on the horizon behind me.
This was insane. There’s not a giant seemingly endless field of black jagged rock in the goddamn Smoky Mountains. There’s no cliff faces tall and steep enough for a multi-minute vertical drop. And alpine coasters were small affairs, not major engineering projects that span miles with pylons and vertical tracks. It made no sense.
Sadly it wasn’t going to start making any more sense anytime soon.
The ride kept going.
I was on this rocky landscape for several hours. I feel comfortable saying this because I could actually notice the sun getting lower in the sky. And the sled wasn’t slowing down despite the grade of the track being flat. I was getting cramped from sitting and stretched my legs and twisted my back as best I could. Didn’t do much help. My eyes were starting to get irritated from the constant wind in them. Worst of all it was starting to get chilly. I only had on a light jacket, a windbreaker, just something to keep the breeze off me, no real insulation. I was cold, my joints were stiff, I was hungry and thirsty. My eyes watered and my throat was so dry it was sore.
But none of that was as bad as just how little sense this all made. There’s nothing like this place anywhere near the Smoky Mountains. This was like some volcanic rock landscape. The more I thought about it the less sense it made.
The ride kept going.
My mind didn’t even try to process this. Whatever I was experiencing simply couldn’t be possible. I was crazy. I was dreaming. The CIA had kidnapped me and dosed me with some new version of LSD and I was in a straightjacket in a padded room at Area 51.
The sled kept zooming along as the sky turned to dusk. Soon the bridge disappeared from my view and I continued on along the endless, rocky, featureless landscape.
I sat back against the sled, mentally and physically numb. I was exhausted. I was thirsty. I was cramping up. I was hungry. I had to pee. I held it for as long as I could, then had no choice but just wet myself. I cried until I had no more tears left. Then I just sat there.
The ride kept going.
By the time the sun dipped below the horizon my throat felt like sandpaper. I dug around in my jacket pockets hoping to find a stick of gum or piece of candy. Nothing. I checked again, having nothing else to do. Under a crumpled store receipt in the inner pocket of my jacket was a single old, forgotten cough drop. I unwrapped it from the paper and popped it in my mouth. Saliva flooded back into my mouth and I was overwhelmed by the methanol and medicine taste. It was something at least, although I knew it would be a brief and temporary fix at best.
I felt my eyes get heavy. It was getting colder. That mountain cold. That deep cold the mountains have even into the early spring when the sun goes down. That kind that just pulls the heat right out of you. I shivered. A terrible, horrible certainty came to me. I would ride until I passed out from exhaustion or the hypothermia set in. My body would tumble off the sled to fall and skip across the rocky ground like a stone skipping across a lake, my bones breaking as I tumbled until my body finally came to a stop. If I was lucky I would be killed and not have to lie for days, broken and bruised, on the ground until death took me.
The ride kept going. The ride kept going. The fucking ride kept going.
“Fuck you” I said to the ride, my voice a horse whisper. I pulled my jacket closer around me, for all the good it did. The cold wind was slowly but surely pulling my body heat away. My shivering got worse, crossing the line from a simple normal shiver into those deep, almost violent full body ones.. I wasn’t anything you could call an experienced outdoorsman, but I knew enough to know that wasn’t a good sign.
It was getting dark. There was a full moon at least so I wasn’t totally in the dark.
About then I noticed something. The landscape, what little I could see in the fading light, was changing. It was smoothing out, becoming less rocky and craggy. Up ahead an odd, shimmering light was starting to appear on the ground.
I was over it before I even realized what it was. The tracks were going over a smooth surface.
Water. It was a lake. The odd lights I had seen were the moon, reflected in ripples on the lake.
Within minutes I was out of the view of the land. After the nearly endless rocky landscape and everything else I had seen, it scared me how little I was shocked. I didn’t like how mentally numb I was getting. I leaned over. There was enough moonlight to see the water, 15 or 20 feet below the track. The pylons holding up the track went into the water, the light wasn’t good enough to even make a guess at how far they went down or how deep the water was.I leaned back in the sled. My eyes were red and bloodshot from the constant wind. I closed them. This was a mistake.I jerked awake. I don’t know if I dozed off for a split second or an hour. My weight had shifted and I caught myself as my center of gravity was in danger of sending me off the sled and into the water.
I screamed in anger. A deep primal scream. I hurt so bad. My joints felt like they were full of glass. My limbs were full of pins and needles. I glanced over at the water. For the first time on the very edges of my brain a tiny voice started to speak up, telling me that I could be all over if I just jumped. I shut the voice up, but it scared me still.
I sat there as the ride went on. It felt like hours. Eventually the lake ended in a rocky shore line. The damned ride. There was no safe place to bail out. If the ride slowed down, it was high in the air, if it moved toward the ground it sped up. Sharp rocks, big trees, nothing you could safely bail out into.
I kept having to force myself awake. I kept dozing off. Once I felt myself falling asleep and drove a vicious uppercut into my own nose to stave it off.
I seriously started to think about how much longer I could hang on. The voice came back again. This time I didn’t shut it up. I wasn’t admitting it to myself yet, but I was starting to think about the best way to land that would end it quickly if I needed to.
Something was ahead. The track seemed to dip into the ground. I was too tired, too beaten to even get scared. I was just resigned to whatever happened at this point.
With little warning the track took my sled into a tunnel in the ground. Everything went completely pitch black. After several moments even the dim moonlight was gone.
This was the worst part. The creepy forest, the immense rocky landscape, the eerie lake… those were bad. But this was just nothing. Nothing to look at, nothing to hear, nothing for reference or sense of where I was going. The walls of the tunnel felt like they were inches from me in every direction. The air felt thick, like there wasn’t enough oxygen.
With every moment I was in that tunnel I lost a little more hope. After a long, long time I made a decision. When I got out of this tunnel, I would jump. I didn’t care anymore. Hopefully there would be a spot where I could be certain the fall would instantly kill me. I was done. The ride had beaten me. I sat there, waiting for a chance to end this on my terms. That was all I had left.
Eventually up ahead, a tiny speck of light appeared. I gathered my strength, ready to end it. I sat up, getting my legs under me so I could jump as soon as we were clear. The sled burst out of the tunnel. The dim light of the full moon was enough to be momentarily blinding after the pitch black of the tunnel.. I gave my eyes a moment to adjust.
I was back in a normal looking Appalachian forest. Rolling hills, green trees. The air smelled of pine again. I heard an owl hoot off somewhere.
Slowly I lowered myself back into a setting position, in shock. At first I refused to believe it but the ride was slowing down. I held still, making sure my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me, but no, the cheap plastic sled that had been my world for what felt like an eternity was slowing down.
Up ahead, a structure was visible, peeking out from among the trees in the dim lighting as the sled moved down the track.
It was the Alpine Slide building. The crappy fake red barn where I had boarded this cursed ride so long ago. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, sure it was either my mind or the cursed ride playing tricks with me. But the building stayed there.
It grew closer and closer. The track leveled completely out. The sled slowed down more. Before I had the time to really come to terms with it I arrived back at the building.
The sled slowed to a stop, gently pumping against another sled parked on the track. I sat there for a few moments, gasping in great big gulping fear breaths, trying to assure myself the ride didn’t have one last trick of its sleeve.
I looked around. The place was empty, deserted. The overhead lights were still on and the old Pepsi machine still glowed and buzzed, but the ticket booth was dark and empty, a metal gate pulled down over the ticket window.
Suddenly it hit me that I was free and I practically leapt out of the sled and onto the platform. I immediately collapsed. My legs were jelly and my head was spinning. I tried to stand up again and doubled over, dry heaving. Have you ever been out on a boat for a day and have that weird reverse motion sickness when you’re back on solid land? It was like that times a hundred. My inner ear was literally pounding, all the motion had really done a number on it.
I laid there for a few moments and eventually forced myself to stand up on my two wobbling legs. I looked around, a horrible certainty creeping into my mind that there would be no exit, no way off the platform but to my relief an exit turnstyle, one of those full height ones, was set into the fence that surrounded the ride property.
I went through it and found myself back on the main road. The truckstop was still there, still open but far less busy. My car sat in the same corner of the parking lot I had left it.
I allowed myself one look back, just one quick one. The metal skeleton of the Alpine Slide track sat there, dark and quiet but otherwise normal.
I stumbled-ran back to my car, dug the keys out of my pocket, and collapsed inside. When the door shut I let out a primal scream, the tons of fear and confusion and anger all fusing into a single, raw emotion. I screamed again and again.
After a few moments I felt like I was emotionally at least back to a place where I could act, although I wasn’t sure yet what to do next. Not really knowing what to do I cranked the car. The A/C had been on low when I shut off the car and it came roaring back to life and cold air blowing on me almost sent me back into a full on panic attack. I fumbled with the climate controls until the air stopped blowing directly on me, then calmed down enough to turn the heat on, helping to get the chill out of my bones. There was a half full bottle of water in the center console cup holder and I grabbed it and chugged it. Nothing ever tasted as good before or sense as that few ounces of water.
That was when I noticed the clock on the radio head unit. It was 4:17 in the morning. It had been about one, one thirty or so in the afternoon when I got on the accursed ride.
Over 15 hours. I had been on the goddamn ride for over 15 hours. Over half a day.
I just sat there. Warming up. Calming down. I was exhausted. I was dehydrated. I can’t even describe how my head felt. I probably had at least a minor case of hypothermia. I thought about going into the gas station and asking for help but what would I even say, and more than anything I just wanted to get away from this place. And I just wanted to get away. I wanted to be nowhere near that damn ride.
I put the Camaro in gear and pulled into the street and in panic I immediately slammed on the brakes. I was lucky there was no traffic on the road at that moment. The feeling of accelerating to just normal surface street speeds made me sick to my stomach. I gathered myself and very slowly accelerated the car I usually treated with a very heavy foot up to 30 miles an hour. Every time I tried to accelerate at a pace faster than “Old Lady Going to Church, Uphill” I would have a panic attack. I was okay once I was up to speed, but accelerating freaked me out after being on that ride.
I drove about 30 minutes, putting some arbitrary amount of distance between myself and the coaster. Eventually I made it back to where the twisty mountain road met back up with a major road that would eventually meet back up with the highway. After a few more minutes of driving I saw the onramp for the highway. There was one of those big truckstop travel plazas and pulled in, parking right up at the door. I smelled like pee and I can only imagine how I looked, but I didn’t care.
I kept a couple of emergency 20s in the back of my wallet and spent it on the biggest bottle of water the store had, an overpriced bottle of eye drops, and a huge travel mug of coffee. The clerk looked at me as if he was expecting me to either drop dead or rob him the entire time.
Back in my car I downed the coffee. I put a few eye drops in each of my eyes and sat there as the caffeine took effect until I felt like I could make it back to my apartment. The sun was just coming up when I finally pulled out of the truck stop and got on the freeway. I slowly, very slowly, accelerated up to highway speed, put the Camaro in cruise control, and let the miles start to drift away. I turned on the radio, I needed to hear human voices. Every time my mind went back to what had just happened I turned the radio up louder, eventually drowning it out with painful levels of rock music. I wasn’t ready to think about it yet. Yes looking back I know I was just in denial. I finally made it back to the crappy little apartment I had off campus, a little two story walk up studio. I let myself in and collapsed on the cheap couch. I was asleep before I even had the time to decide whether or not to do anything else. I woke up later that afternoon. I took a shower and ate a meal and didn’t think about the ride. I washed the pee stained filthy clothes I had been wearing and didn’t think about the ride. I went back to class and didn’t think about the ride. Every time I thought about the ride I forced it out of my head. I’m sure this wasn’t the most mentally healthy thing to do but what can you say?
I didn’t forget about it, don’t be silly. This isn’t the kind of thing you forget. One day while looking up something else in the university’s library my curiosity got the better of me and I looked up the Alpine Slide. No website but a few Google Map and Yelp mentions. None of them mentioned anything weird, certainly nothing even remotely like what I experienced. Near as I can tell it closed sometimes in the winter of 2012.
Life went on. I mean, that’s what it does. The next day was a little better. And the day after that a little better. And the day after that a little better still. I met a nice girl. Graduated. Got married. Got a nice house in the suburbs. Got a dog. Had a daughter. Spent a lot of time happy and not thinking about being trapped on an endless alpine coaster.And that was my life for many, many years after that.
Until a few weeks back when as a very different person I found myself driving a boring and safe mid sized family SUV through those same mountains. My wife Carol, 5 months pregnant, sat in the passenger seat, our 6 year old daughter Emily in a booster seat in the back, and Max our mixed breed mutt next to her. It had been a nice pleasant trip, driving back from visiting her folks.
I hadn’t thought about that fucking ride in so long I barely registered that I was in the same general area until it was too late. Suddenly I realized that little mountain tourist trap town was only a few minutes down the road. I swallowed hard and gripped the steering wheel hard. Carol was looking out the window at the scenery and Emily was deep into some kid’s Youtube video on an iPad. I forced myself to keep my breath steady as we rounded the corner.The town was still there, sorta. Time had not been kind to it. The gas station was still there, at some point it had been bought out by Shell. The tourist trap shops were still there. One of them was now a vape shop. The diner was closed, the building looking like it sat unused for a long time.
But of course that’s not what I cared about. A looked over at the site where the Alpine Coaster once stood. It was gone. The kitschy fake barn was gone. The site was just a bare concrete slab with a chainlink fence around it. Faded “no trespassing” and “for sale” signs hung off the fence. A pile of old, decaying lumber that might have once long ago been part of the structure covered part of the old lot. No sign of the track remained outside of some old concrete support posts dotting the side of the mountain.
I exhaled out a breath I hadn’t even realized I had been holding in. Soon the little town disappeared in my rear view mirror.
About a half hour later we stopped for gas. I pulled up to a gas pump across from a massive motorhome. Max stuck his head out the window and started barking at a little white dog, a toy breed of some kind, in the window of the motorhome. Carol and Emily immediately headed into the store to restock on snacks while I fueled up.
I stood there, a half smile on my lips as Max barked and wagged his tail in an attempt to attract the attention of the other dog while I filled up the tank, said dog doing an admirable job of ignoring him.
Right about the time I finished fueling up and cleaning the bugs off the windshield Carol returned from inside the store, Emily in tow, arms filled with two full sized bags of Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips and what looked to be a half dozen individually wrapped pickles.
I raised an eyebrow at the collection of food but knew better than to question a pregnant woman's snack choices.
“Should we take Max for a quick walk?” Carol asked. The travel plaza had a nice little gated dog walking area off to the side.
“Yeah probably not a bad idea, he’s been cooped up in the car for a few hours.” I said. Max, upon hearing his name and the word “walk” , forgot about the other dog and upgraded from wagging his tail to wagging his entire body while making whining sounds and staring right at me.
About this time I became half aware that the big motor home next to us was pulling away. I didn’t think much of it, outside of doing a quick automatic mental check to make sure Emily was well clear of the moving vehicle, but she was safely between me and our SUV, well out of the way.
But that was when Emily looked behind me and cheerfully yelled “Daddy look a roller coaster! Can I ride the coaster?”
It’s cliche as fuck I know but my blood went cold.
I turned around slowly, certain in my knowledge that terrible old decrepit Alpine Coaster would be there, having just popped into existence to trap me again.
That.. is not what I saw. Sure enough there was a coaster there, one I hadn’t noticed earlier because it had mostly been blocked by the motor home, but there it was. It was even an Alpine Coaster.
But it was not the same coaster I had encountered those years ago. That was immediately obvious. It was a small but modern and newish looking setup with neon lights and a bunch of people. There was an actual building where you bought tickets and a little snack stand.
“Daddy! Can we go on the coaster!” Emily asked again.
My mouth made motions but no words came out. I glanced over at Carol, hoping she’d say we didn’t have time but to my horror she smiled and said “You know what? That does sound like fun. Daddy will take you while I take Max for a walk.”
My mind raced, trying to think of a way to get out of it. But Emily was already dragging me across the parking lot to the entrance.
I patted my pocket, making sure my phone was in it. Every fiber of my being was screaming to run away. I slept walked through the line and the ticket booth while Emily bounced happily.
We got into a two seat plastic sled. This one was actually a lot nicer than the one my mind wouldn’t stop thinking about. It had two nice cushioned seats, big grab handles, even a nice rollbar.
The sled started up the track. I fought back the panic. I swerved my head around, keeping the building in my view. I was terrified of losing sight of it. We made it to the top and Emily did a happy squeal as we started down the side of the mountain.
My heart raced. Any second, any second my mind told me we’d lose sight of the building and then the ride would never end. The ride sped down the mountain. My mind tortured me with thoughts of not only going through it again, but seeing Emily go through it. The ride went around a big, banking turn. Emily kept shouting happily. How long before Carol reported us missing I wondered? Could I keep Emily calm? What if it lasted even longer this time? What if this time it never ended?
And then we were back at the start of the ride. The same attendant who had helped us into the sled was helping Emily out. I stepped out. The attendant gave me a brief look but said nothing. I guess I looked a little wild eyed.
I was fine. Emily was fine. It had been a perfectly normal, fun ride.
“That was fun Daddy! Thank you!” Emily said. I forced a smile back. “It was fun.” I responded, hoping like I sounded like I meant it.
I took Emily’s hand and we walked back to the car. Max saw us coming and barked happily. Carol looked up from the pint of Ben and Jerry’s she had somehow acquired and added to her snack collection while we were gone and smiled at us.
“Did you have fun?” she asked.
“It was so fun Mommy!” Emily said.
Carol smiled down at her, but then looked at me and frowned. “Are you okay?” Carol could read my face a lot better than the attendant could. “You’re pale.”
I smiled and this time the smile felt real. “Ya know what. Yeah, I think I am okay.”
Carol looked a little puzzled, but didn’t press it. We loaded Emily back in her booster seat, stopped Max from trying desperately to eat half a discarded gas station hot dog off the ground and got him back in the car. Carol and her small collection of snack food took her place in the passenger seat and I got in the driver's seat.I smiled. I cranked the car. I put it in gear. I pulled out of the gas station and back on the road, this time accelerating just a little faster than I had in years.

It definitively looks like certain high-ranking, working royals which I won't name since I'm only speculating, decided that after Jamaica and Nigeria, enough is enough. So it was decided that part of MI6's most juicy material was to be released. Germany's ZDF network is the way those high-ranking, working royals circumvent regular arrangements with the UK press and let them contritely state they weren't involved at all in such tell-all documentary.

I've been working on a macro that goes through a specified folder full of videos and extracts some basic info from each file to save to a table for easy reference - Title, runtime, file path, and size. I've actually gotten this macro to work using the GetDetailsOf() method on the file objects. As I was running it through different folders however, I noticed that some entries in my table suddenly had negative sizes, and this was happening on the largest videos.
After some digging, it seems that the File.Size property I was using to get the file size returns the value in bytes as a Long. Therefore, any file over about 2GB or an hour and a half in runtime is going to run into this issue; and some files are livestream VODs that can reach 22GB.
The GetDetailsOf() method does read the size of the file, but it auto-simplifies it to the nearest metric prefix, i.e. instead of returning 48122880, it returns 45.8 MB. This is losing some fidelity I'd like to have on the size of the files, as I'm adding them all up folder by folder.
So my question ultimately becomes: how can I read the size of a given file and have it returned as a datatype that can handle numbers larger than a Long can handle and retain byte or kilobyte level accuracy? I can see in windows explorer that the file sizes are reported in KB accurately, so there must be a way to get those values into excel.
I'm currently using excel 2016, 32-bit with Windows 10. I didn't think to check that until after writing the rest of the post.

Initially started playing CS2 with an R7 5800X + RTX 3080 + 32GB RAM (3200 MHz), average 230-250~ average FPS on Dust 2, closer to 140-170~ on Ancient. (Dust 2 best performing map, Ancient worst performing map). Originally 350-400~ FPS on CSGO on most maps; I don't have those numbers anymore. First thing I noticed was that CS2 improperly utilizes the CPU, stacking all of the GPU rendering load onto 1 core, causing the CPU to only be at 5-10% utilization (1 core maxed out) with my GPU sitting pretty at 30-40% usage and my FPS barely at my refresh-rate (240 Hz). CSGO had this problem as well, but not nearly as bad. Obviously, this is a problem that thousands of people have run into.
Fast-forward; I got a job that requires me to be out of state 2-3 weeks out of every month, so I sold my desktop and bought a reasonably-priced Alienware M15 R5 laptop (Win10, 1080p, 360 Hz (excessive), R9 5900HX, RTX 3070 (80%~ performance compared to desktop version), 32GB RAM (2667 MHz). The 5900HX is not really comparable to my previous 5800X, obviously. Still, I expected it to be able to play eSports titles reasonably well. CSGO played perfectly fine, 250-300 FPS generally. Valorant currently gets the same, 250-300 FPS (Valorant actually uses all of my cores. Hah).
Out of the box with no launch options, CS2 gets 50-100 FPS depending on the map with this laptop (Inferno and Ancient are especially terrible), only using 5-10% of the CPU (1 core maxed out), 20-30% GPU usage. These FPS stats do not get better by lowering any settings (because of the intentionally-designed CPU bottleneck), but input latency somewhat improves by playing on lowest settings (with FidelityFX disabled). This is, pardon my French, fucking ridiculous. Entirely foreseeable and preventable during engine development, and completely insane to be overlooked without more context. Secondly, Source 2 is over a decade old, so really it's a miracle that anyone thought it was a good idea to release a modern sequel title on this ancient technology.
Before anyone asks, I've done everything possible after 20+ hours of research to try to increase FPS on this system. My best results have been with the "performance" power plan in Windows these launch options (if anyone says "that one doesn't work anymore" I literally don't care, I'm over it and decided to throw everything at it, and these all seem to improve my FPS through a lot of split-testing): -dx11 -coop_fullscreen -force_allow_coop_fullscreen -mainthreadpriority 2 -disable_affinity_preferences -r_max_device_threads 64 -threads 17 -set_power_qos_disable -favor_consistent_framerate +engine_low_latency_sleep_after_client_tick 1 +r_low_latency 2
My FPS has since improved to something resembling a playable experience (90-190 FPS depending on map). I'm aware that I could replace my RAM with a higher clockspeed to further improve performance with a single core, but I have other priorities than spending more time or money trying to improve this. Regardless, I wanted to share what worked for me because there was a huge lack of infomation anywhere in one place. I found these launch options from user Aveyo. Here's his original post; +Rep to that guy: https://www.reddit.com/GlobalOffensive/comments/1ah3eas/comment/kolwa1g/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Either way, this is as good as forcing low-spec players to flock to this game's main competitor just so that they can have a vaguely similar experience with playable FPS. No, sub-100 FPS is not playable for anyone who can tell the difference between 144hz and 240hz and wants a somewhat competitive experience. I can't yet justify spending over $2k on a laptop with a reasonable CPU/GPU combo that would meet my standard because of a single game whose devs are basically telling me they don't care enough to add reasonable multithreading and that I should get over it. Especially when this PC works completely fine for everything else, including playing their competitor's game instead (begrudgingly).

Prompt: The Variants of Vampires. Think of an alternative vampire that survives on something other than blood. Write a story or scene based on this character.
As the sun faded over the horizon, Vlad’s eyes opened slowly. A sigh escaped his cold lips, and he stretched his long legs onto the red velvet lining of his coffin. Another day has come. He thought sadly, as he had everyday for last 206 years.
He checked his timepiece in the left chest pocket of his silk pajamas, 8:36 p.m. Thankful for the spring sun that set earlier than it would in the coming months, he pushed on the heavy hardwood lid of his resting place. With a creak the wood swung open, landing heavily to the side. While a modern coffin would no doubt be lighter, and easier to open every evening, this one was sentimental to him. As he had been buried in this exact coffin 206 years ago, at 35 years old.
With a heavy sigh, Vlad rose and climbed onto the step that sat beside his coffin. His stomach rumbled, and he knew he had no choice but to venture to the kitchen of his estate home. With his head hung low, he began to undress.
You see, Vlad was not like other vampires. His long life was full of loneliness, even for one who was undead. When he had first been turned by his Maker he was optimistic, excited even, for the wonders of the world he would be able to see. With no time limit, no fear of death, and an infinite supply of food walking the earth- the possibilities stretched before him like the vastness of the night sky.
However, Vlad was unable to satiate the hunger that filled him, that turned him into a ravenous beast, night after night. The mere thought of blood churned his stomach, much to his Maker’s chagrin.
Isabel was her name. Even the thought of her filled him with longing. Her had loved her once, and she him, until they learned the truth: Vlad could not be sustained by blood, but one of the things that all Vampires feared: Garlic. Of all things. The thought still flooded him with embarrassment, even after more than two centuries of living as a Vampire.
He climbed the steps from his dirt cellar, whose entrance lay hidden behind a false door that led into the Master bedroom of his estate. He lifted the heavy wooden lever that would propel the door open to his closet. The clever vault disguised by many shelves of his expensive leather shoes. He kept an armoire near his coffin for convenience, as sometimes he awoke before the sun had set. A terrible habit he picked up 50 years prior.
He wound his way from the closet into the room, down the long hallway, and the curved staircase to the first floor. His heavy footsteps echoed eerily in his quiet manse, as his staff had already left at the end of their workday, thinking that he was abroad on business. A ruse which was quickly growing thin. Soon I shall have to replace my staff again, how much easier this dreary life would be if I could simply drink from them. He mused.
Vlad had no excitement for the night, as even the mere smell of his skin repulsed those of his kind. He was unable to rejoin his coven, the one that he had briefly reveled in. Expensive goblets of crisp red blood he could not drink, dances and guests from around the globe each night, the women with their necks adorned with jewels, some thought long lost to the mortals of the world, but safely stashed in the secret rooms of the elites of the Vampire world. The men in their black tuxedos, fashionable hairstyles and long white teeth often exposed in laughter. His tenure in his coven had been short, merely days, but it had been a lifestyle he mourned. He and Isabel had tried to make things work… But this train of thought was far too painful, and his stomach panged once again, so he quickened his steps and focused once again on his coming meal.
He made his way into the back kitchen, not the formal kitchen he would have likely entertained Isabel in (if he was a “normal” Vampire), but into the staff kitchen where the fridges were, and food was prepared and stored. Rows and rows of dried garlic bundles hung from the exposed wooden beams, all harvested from the garden on the grounds.
Vlad once again rued his life, as he wished the preparation of his meal didn’t fall to him each night. But he reached up and took down a bundle, released a corm from its tight knot, and sat at the stool at the quartz countertop, grabbing for one of his Japanese Damascus knives that made his task of slicing his garlic head easy.
Briefly inspired, Vlad decided a garlic comfit would be nice, and he got to work.

Mischief walks up to the blue crystal clock. She spins the the big hand with her magic and the little hand lands of three. A blue flame is lit. Mischief walks away into the darkness; the light from the blue clock making her look like a silhouette.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuZbmLLv1vM

A bead of sweat falls down Mischief head. Her hair on the ground and her back up august the wall. Mischief had been doing a headstand for the last thirty minutes. In her mind, doing this action once a week was a good way to keep her blood flowing and strength high. Sun walked outside and saw Mischief up august the wall. 

“Are you gonna stand there all day”, Sun asks, holding a peach in his hand.
“You should try it”, Mischief said under the pressure. She uses her feet to push off the rock and picks herself up. “It helps with strength endurance and it help you think.”
“Hard pass”, Sun says, biting the peach. “You know I’m not good with my arms.” Mischief smirks and says, “That’s not what I heard from Ne Zha~” Sun stopped walking and almost chocked on the chunk of peach in his mouth. He looked over at Mischief and said in embarrassment, “Could you not bring Him up?”
“Why? What’s the problem”, Mischief teased. “Oh right, you still like him.” Mischief laughs and then says, “After a millennia and you still haven't told him?” Mischief continues to laugh while Sun burns a bright red and shouts, “Can you shut up?!” Sun starts to hit Mischief head and she still laughs.
“Okay, Okay, I’ll stop”, Mischief says. Sun stops laughing and crosses his arms in annoyance. “Go train Mk. I’ll see you in a bit.” Sun walks out to the training dojo. Mischief smiles but then holds her head in pain with both of her hands. She keeps her eyes shut and feels herself being surrounded by darkness. Even when her eyes where shut, she could see a being covered in a moon themed cloak.
“No…! Why are you here?!” The being looks back; her eyes glowing a light blue. She turns and starts to walk over to Mischief. Mischief raises her hand and cast a spell, but the being covered in the moon cloak faces Mischief.
I am you, as you are me.
We are two become one.
Mischief opens her eyes once the pain subsides and sees that the world around her is normal. She looks around to see if anybody else is there. No one. Mischief looks at her hands and sees then shaking with fear.
“No…. not this night…! Please, not this night….!” Mischief walked back into the house and looked around for a quill and scroll.

Mischief walks back outside to see Mk and Sun training. She sits under a shady area near the entrance to the waterfall. Mk jumps back and lands on the mountains wall. She pushes himself off and charges at Sun from above. Sun smirks and jumps directly up while Mk crashed to the ground. 

“Missed me again”, Sun said. He picks up Mk with his tail and asks, “Now how did I win?”
“Misdirection”, Mk guesses.
“Correct”, Sun says.
“That seams like a shady lesson”, Mischief yells.
“Too soon sis.” Mk chuckles a bit.
“I’m just saying the truth”, Mischief says. She walks over and whispers, “And I bet Ne Zha would say the same thing if he was here.” Sun gets an annoyed look on his face and says, “Whatever. And plus, I was always better at fighting than you.”
“Oh really?”
“Wait a second”, Mk interrupted, “You two have fought before?”
“Yeah. But it was for training purposes”, Sun says.
“Now that you mention it, we haven't trained in a while”, Mischief says. “What do you say, but brother?” Sun smirks and says, “Your on.”

Mischief and Sun get into their fighting positions on each side of the training ground. Mk sits on the stairs in anticipation. 

“Not using your weapon sis?”
“I don’t need it”, Mischief said with a smirk on her face. Sun chuckles under his breath and says, “Your done if I land this.” Sun charges to Mischief at full speed. Mischief closes her eyes and smirks. She moves out of the way and pushes her brother to the wall. Sun blinks a few times in confusion and looks back to sees Mischief untouched.
“I’m waiting.” Sun runs over to Mischief and tried to hit her multiple times but each time, Mischief blocks his attacks over and over. “Wow, brother. Your getting rusty.”
“I’ll show you rusty”, Sun exclaims. He jumps back and starts to attack with his legs.
“Not really effective!” Mischief takes Sun’s leg and pins him down with her foot. “Moon: 1. Sun: 0. I win again.”
“Mischief, let me up”, Sun says. Mischief moved her foot off of Sun’s back and says, “I thought you fought celestial beings bigger than me. You sure your not getting rusty?”
“He’s not”, Mk says. “He beat Demon Bull King, Spider Queen, and More! He’s strong enough to fight the Jade Emperor!” Mischief could hear her thoughts snap in half. She chuckles to herself in annoyance and says under her breath, “Yeah…. Sure…” Mischief then holds her head in pain.
“Mischief, are you okay”, Sun asks. He holds her shoulders.
“I’m fine”, Mischief says. “It’s just a headache. And I don’t think I’ll be able to train Mk tonight.”
“It’s okay”, Mk says. “Plus, I promised Mei I would help her fix her bike”
“Thank you, Mk.”

The full moon shines from above the mountain; its rays passing the peek of the mountain. A being covered in a night themed cloak looks down on the city below. She turns back and jumps backward. She closes her eyes and summoned a portal under her. The portal was covered in shadows and it’s magic was a dark blue. The being fell thought the portal and landed on a roof with grace and elegance. She looks back and sees the lights on in each building from each block ahead. 

“Now… where are you?”

Mk walks down the street of the city. He was walking home from Mei’s bike shop and he was hoping to get some well needed rest. 

“This is the last time I stay out this late”, Mk thinks to himself. He looks up and sees a being silhouetted bu the light of the moon. “Who is that?” Mk squints his eyes and sees the being crying up at the moon. “Are they crying?” Before Mk could call to the person, they jumped to the next roof and vanish into the night. Mk runs to the end of the block but doesn’t see the being.
“That person….. Why where they crying?”

“I’m sorry, say that again?” 

“I saw a person last night”, Mk explains. “It looked like they where crying.” Mischief stopped in her tracks and hides behind the house. She looks to her right and back down to the floor.
“H-How, the, Hell, did he see me”, Mischief thought with worry, panicking in her mind. Her racing thoughts coming to a halt. Mischief touched her broach and thought, “He was with Mei that night. He must have been walking home when he saw me.” Mischief lied the back of her head on the house wall and says, “Damn you, Moon Maiden…!” Mischief sighs and thinks, “There’s no way I can control her at this rate.” Mischief walks back to the front and sees Mk and Sun walking to the top of the mountain.
“Where are you two going?”
“We’re going to train at the top of the mountain”, Sun says. “Wanna come?”
“Sorry, not this time”, Mischief says. “I still have a bit of a headache.”
“Oh… does that mean no training tonight either”, Mk asks.
“I’m sorry, Mk”, Mischief says.
“It’s alright. Take care of yourself. We can train when you feel better.” Mischief smiles. She then remembered how her mentor from years past was so understanding. She saw a lot of them in Mk. “Well see you later.” Mk and Sun walked up the path to the top of the mountain. Mischief looks off to the side is sadness. She hated lying to Mk and her brother, but she had to protect them at all cost. She could risk to lose them like she lost…… her….
Mischief sits on a rock near the edge of the cliff and looks up at the sky. It had almost been a month since she had been away from the celestial realm: her home. She wondered if the cheetah twins had been playing in the celestial forest around this time. She touches her broach and says, “I miss you, mother…..” Pink magic flew around Mischief and a scroll appeared. Mischief catches the scroll and looks at the wax seal. “This is Ne Zha’s crest.” Mischief opens the scroll and a necklace rolls into her lap. She looks at the necklace and then read the scroll as follows:
Mischief,

**It’s good to hear from you again. I heard from your mother that you moved to earth. I hope Sun hasn’t been giving you too much of a headache. I did some research on what you told me about and it lead me to this necklace. And I also found out that the reason your alter ego is coming out on her own is because she hasn’t been bound. One of your ancestors had the same problem and they had a solution. The necklace I set you is called the moon of Apithaea. It has the power to control your alter ego’s rage. It might help you. I hope you get a hendel on your powers.** 

Could you tell sun I said hi?
-Ne Zha
Mischief chuckles and says, “Looks like Ne Zha hasn’t changed one bit. Still the same helpful prince I know.” She smirks. “And his interest in Sun hasn’t left at all.” Mischief looks at the necklace and then placed it around her neck. “Thank you, Lotus.”

Mk and Sun fight along the mountain Plato. However, Mk couldn’t couldn’t really concentrate. He was worried about Mischief, and he was thinking about the person he saw the other night. Mk was so distracted that he didn’t realize that he had left an opening for Sun to hit him. Sun stops his attack midway. 

“You got distracted.” Mk lowers his staff and shudders, “S-Sorry.”
“Are you okay? You seam distracted”, Sun points out.
“I’m worried about Mischief”, Mk says. Sun looked at Mk and the to the side of him, thinking of how to help Mk. she smiles and says, “Kid, follow me. I wanna show you something.”
“What is it?” Sun taps on the ground and a hatch opens. “Now way! How long had this been here?”
“A long time”, Sun says. He jumps and and says, “Come on!” Mk jumps down the hole and lands in a cavern like cave.
“Whoa…. Had this always been down here”, Mk asks.
“Yup”, Sun says. Mk looks ahead and sees a crystal floating above a pedestal; it’s light casting along the floor. Mk walks up to the crystal and asks, “What is this?”
“This is the crystal of the sun”, Sun explains. “This crystal has protected this mountain for a very long time. It was made over three millennia ago.”
“It’s amazing.” Mk takes a closer look at and then gets a vision.
Mischief looks back at someone; her face angry and upset.
She says something but her words are distorted and scrambled.
“She was your mentor!”
Mk blinks a few times and moves his hand away from the crystal. Sun notice Mk’s discomfort and asks, “Are you okay?”
“Huh? Oh, I’m fine”, Mk reassures Sun.
“If you say so.” Sun says.
“Hey, Monkie King? Can I ask you something?”

Mk and Sun walk along the roof of a building. 

“Are you sure the person you saw the other night is gonna be here”, sun asked.
“I’m sure of it”, Mk says. The two look around. Mk looks to the north and sees the same person from the other night. “Hey!” Sun looks over to see Mk running over to the hooded person.
“Mk, wait!”
“Um. Excuse me?” The hooded figure looks back; her eyes covered in shadows. “I noticed you the other night and I wanted to meet you.” The hooded figure looks at Mk for a second.
“MK…..?”
“You know who I am?” Sun takes a closer look at the hooded woman and gains a surprised look on his face.
“Mischief?” The being blinks a few times and then says, “I’m sorry. I don’t know anyone by that name.” She tries to walk away, but Sun holds her by the solder which makes Mischief’s necklace break off. The necklace falls to the ground and Mischief’s head hands low.
“Mischief? Are you okay”, Sun asks. Mischief looks back with her glowing eyes piercing Sun’s soul from within. Sun could feel a chill go up his spine. “Um, Mischief?” Mischief rushes back and attacks Sun. “Sis! Stop! What are you doing?!”
“Anyone who get’s in my way will be destroyed”, She yells. Sun whips around and holds his sister down with all the strength he has within him.
“Mk, get the necklace”, he shouts. Mk looks over and sees the necklace. He runs over and picks it up. Mischief looks over in panic and rage.
“No!” She breaks free from her brothers hold and rushes over to Mk and holds him by his collar. Sun tries to rush over to Mischief, but she puts of a barrier. She looks up at Mk and says, “I will not be locked up like a prisoner!”
“What? I don’t get it. Who are you”, Mk asks, struggling to break free. Mischief chuckles to herself, looks up at Mk and says, “So she didn’t tell you? Your her apprentice. Surely you can tell the difference.”
“What?”
“You don’t know? I am–!” Before she could finish her sentence, A ghostly rendition of Mischief, the real Mischief, Holds back her own body. Mk falls to the ground and looks up to see the scene taking place before him.
“Mischief?”
“Mk, I’m sorry”, Mischief exclaims. “I got you and my brother rapped up in this!” Sun runs over and helps up Mk.
“Mischief, who is this”, Mk asks.
“Moon Maiden”, Mischief answers, struggling to hold her back. “She’s my alter ego. I can’t control her without the necklace! Get it!” Sun and Mk run over to the necklace. “You have gone out of control for the last time! You going back where you belong!” Moon maiden holds Mischief by her neck and says, You really think you can control me?! I am half of you that lingers in your shadow! The dark side of light! You can’t escape me, Mischief Wukong!” Mischief puts her hand on Moon Maiden’s arm and says, “No…”
“What?”
“Your right. You are part of me. But you are nothing but an alter ego! I have been through hell and back! I have lost my way over and over, but I never gave up! I have kept you back for over two damn millennia, and I’m not stopping now”, Mischief shouts, felling herself gaining power. Mischief breaks free and holds Moon Maiden with her magic. “NOW!” Mk and Sun put the necklace on Moon Maiden. Mischief lies up and forces herself back into her body. Mischief looks in the darkness and faces her alter ego. “I know you are part of me, and it’s time to make peace with the past”, Mischief says. She puts out her hand to her alter ego. “And I want you to face it with me. If you allow me to.” Moon Maiden looks down and says, “Then I guess we really are one in the same.” She takes Mischief hand.
“We are two become one. The shadow of the sun.”

Mischief gains breath and she holds herself up. 

“M, are you okay”, Sun asks.
“I’m alright”, Mischief says.

“Alter ego, Huh? That’s a new one”, Sun says. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about her before”, Mischief says. “I though I could control her on my own, but I can’t even do that right.”
“Mischief, you can talk to us”, Mk says. “We’re here for you.” Mischief looks at both Mk and Sun and says, “You know, I think me coming down here was a blessing in disguise. I’m glad you two are here with me.” The trio smiles.

I posted earier today in another subreddit sharing my story about having a recent miscarriage and then having my sister-in-law announce her pregnancy a few days later.
Original post: https://www.reddit.com/TryingForABaby/comments/1cuy68t/just_need_to_vent_about_this_impossible/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
She did not know about my miscarriage and I let her give her announcement and share any/all details and excitement for a few hours, including watching a video of my MIL finding out she’s going to be a grandma before leaving for the night with a smile and congratulations. At no point did I give any indication that anything was wrong and I was engaged in the conversation. I then cried the whole way home.
After making my post on Reddit and getting so many kind words and support, I decided to reach out to her via text this morning with a very carefully worded message explaining I am so immensely happy for her, but I just had a miscarriage a few days ago and we coincidentally had the same due date. I asked for a bit of space and for her to not share too many details with me during this time while I process everything, and reiterated that I am NOT asking her to not talk about her pregnancy. Just to try to keep “the baby is as small as an orange seed” and conversations like that to a minimum if possible.
I said again how excited I am for them and how sorry I am to ask this - I repeated that I would not be telling them any of this unless I felt it absolutely necessary to protect my heart.
She did not take it well at all. She replied that it is “completely unacceptable for them to share the biggest news of their lives and not even 24 hours later I tell her that she can’t share the details of her pregnancy.” And that it made her “so so so sick to her stomach” that I would text that to her.
I’m at a loss. I feel horrible for ever telling her, but at the same time, I told her because I imagined she would have even a shred of empathy and understanding. I apologized for telling her and offered to call her so we can make sure we get any weird feelings squashed. She said “a phone call is not necessary. Everything has been said. Have a good weekend!” And ended the conversation.
I’m just…baffled? Did I do something wrong by sharing this with her? I have told no one else aside from my best friend, so it’s not like I’m stealing her spotlight. I’m just so disheartened and grossed out by the response.

Have you ever had an omiyage so delicious that you ended up going to the trouble of searching out and buying it regularly once you were home?
In the past I have had some sweets, juice, wine or biscuits etc. that were so delicious that I thought, “Yes, I will buy this again” but never followed through due to the item needing to be ordered online, bought in a specific shop somewhere or just general day to day life got in the way.
Then eventually I forgot about how delicious the omiyage was and now I cannot remember any of the omiyage names or flavours. Just a recollection that I definitely had some omiyage I wanted to eat more…is this the true essence of an omiyage and how it lingers as a nice memory of the trip? The ghosts of omiyages past are haunting me 😂
I’m curious whether other people actually did make an omiyage into a regular purchase after going home?

I did this (Cancelled rides after initially accepting) twice today and I thought I would share why so you might better understand what is going on. I know I will likely get downvoted for being "uppity" but here you go anyway, some honesty:

1 First ride was at a higher end Hotel here with a very small parking lot/dropoff pickup area. Valet parking is also in the same spot. It was absolutely pouring down rain and when I received the ping (offer for the trip)and as usual it just told me a nearby cross section of streets and didn't specify the hotel. The offer was for like $5.15. Had I known it was this hotel I never would have accepted the ride for several reasons:

1. The parking area as said is very small at is likely that you will get stuck in there for 5-10 minutes.
2. The valet there always come up to you and I just find it annoying having to interact with them all the time.
3. It's a higher end hotel and the people there tend to be wealthy. It annoys me a little bit that the pay is so low for the trip from there ($5). From such a place I prefer to get at least $10 because it seems to me the clientelle there are usually a bit "snooty" and picky about things. I also notice tips seem to be more rare from them versus the other nearby hotels...
4. It was pouring down rain and the road was beginning to moderately flood.
5. I could tell that the customer would be going to a destination which would require me to make a left turn out of this place and I always find making that left turn annoying because of the traffic and the small parking area. Today it was even worse due to the heavy rain. It's a very dangerous turn to make actually and I dislike doing it.

...but regardless I decided to go ahead and do it.... until I was able to see the hotel and until I saw a line of five or six cars backed up outside the entrance area waiting to pull into the tiny lot. At that point I just cancelled the ride because there was no way it was worth it for only $5. It easiliy could have taken 20 minutes just to get in and out of there alone.

2 This trip occurred right after the one above, strangely enough. It was still pouring down rain but not as bad as the previous trip. I get a ping (ride offer) for a little under $8. Again they only give me the cross sections of the road nearby it. They don't tell me the name of the business or even the exact address in the ping (ride offer). I see it and by the location figure that it is probably a nearby apartment. I see the cross section for the destination and see it is a hotel. I figure it is probably an employee at the hotel going to work.... NO! DAMN! After accepting it I see it is a pickup at a shuttle transportation service. And since this is Uber they don't tell em the exact destination until I pickup the customer but I figure out from the info they gave at the ping that it is likely going to a different high end hotel with a very small parking/dropoff area too. And also valet parking.

Of course I cancelled this one too! Why?

1. It was still pouring down rain. And the shuttle area does not have any cover. Plus it was a female passenger. So more than likely I would have to either get out (and get soaked) and help with luggage or else deal with a pissed off customer who might downrate me or do a false report because I am not willing to provide butler service for $7.80.
2. This shuttle service is usually used by people who are cheap. Combine this with someone going to this high end hotel and it implies that they are both wealthy and cheap. Basically the shuttle picks them up at the airport and either takes them to the hotel or just to the shuttle office. To go tot he hotel costs a bit extra. This passenger it seems didn't want to pay that money and instead got dropped off at the shuttle office-- they probably thought the Uber would be cheaper than the extra money the shuttle service would charge to take them to the hotel. So again wealthy (likely) AND cheap. VERY cheap. A horrible combination for getting a tip! On top of that such people tend to demand a lot more and complain more about things. Not to mention the odds are high that there is a lot of luggage.
3. Just like in #1 though a different hotel, this one also has a very small parking/dropoff area and it tends to get backed up. You can easily get stuck there for 15 minutes. Now the pay for this trip was barely worth it already but I had remembered how the other hotel was backed up and figured it was likely this one was backed up too. So I canceled.

After I cancelled this ride, I immediately got another ride for about the same amount. This one was picking up an employee at a house and taking them to restaurant where they worked. It was about half the distance and probably about 1/5th the amount of time as trip #2 would have been. Plus I never had to leave the car, there was no luggage to deal with and no backed up tiny parking areas to delay me and also risk getting into an accident due to all the people there chaotically moving all about.
So if you read this far, thank you. I thought I'd just explain what went on so some of you might understand better. How could it be solved and made better? Well for one thing if they just paid us fairly all of the above would be far less of an issue. You might be paying $20 for the ride but we might only be getting $5. And when it is like that, as you can see, anything negative about your ride makes us want to cancel it. The other thing would be the company giving us the FULL upfront details about the ride before we accept it. As it is now they basically give us limited info in order to try to "trick" us into accepting your ride. Then they figure we are less likely to cancel it because we "committed" already. But really you the customer would have FAR less problems if the company just gave us the details upfront and was honest about it.

Hello everyone! My name is Anna, I am 22 years and from the Netherlands (but casting my web worldwide as I will explain later). I’m blonde, quite tall with 5’7” and I am quite active. I love to go snowboarding, wakeboarding, and you can often find me in the gym or on the treadmill.
Right now I am finishing my undergrad in life sciences. Once I’m done later this year I have two deep wishes. 1) I finally want to visit Asia! I love traveling but never made it there. 2) I want to spend a few weeks in the USA exploring different cities because I’d love to do my postgrad somewhere there. I studied one semester in the UK which was incredible and I hope to do this again but now in the USA.
As to what ‘type’ I’m into it’s quite broad. Well I am generally attracted to older guys, or at least guys who are mature enough to know what they want and have a good conversation. I’m not gonna put an exact number on it but if you could be my dad we’re still ok, if you could be my grandad probably not lol. I’m also usually not really into K-pop type of guys who are all stylised and perfect. I’m more into guys next door, like someone who could be your friendly neighbour or someone you run into in the supermarket lol. Also - not a must - but I like guys with a bit of meat around the bones.
More details about me. I guess I’m a typical Dutch person lol. I love cheese, I cycle everywhere, and I can be quite straight to the point (if it’s too direct you can totally just tell me straight to my face). I also looove spicy food. Last month I tried Sichuan food for the first time and my mind and taste buds were blown away. I've also started trying to learn Mandarin last year but it's damn hard.
If you’re interested to just get to know each other then please reach out. Since I do have a few travel plans I’d be happy to talk to people all over the world because you might become my reason to visit your city or country haha. As a few conversation starters, here are some suggestions:

• What’s your name and age?
• Can you describe your looks and body type?
• Which country in Asia should I absolutely travel to after graduation and why?
• What’s your favourite subreddit on here?
• What are your kinks if you have any?

That’s it for now!
Oh yeah I’m a night owl by the way lol so time difference might not be that much of an issue
PS. If your response to a long post like this is "hey" then we're probably not going to be a match.

Hello everyone. I am a beginner learning asl and I'm very new to the basics, including the best way to ask this question. I'm very open to any corrections.
TL;Dr:

... But I was wondering if it would convey an apology for that situation to sign something like: "sorry + before + you + need + wait (long time/dragged out) + large/lot + work + really + busy" to mean essentially "sorry you needed to wait for a long time earlieI made you wait for a long time earlier, there was a lot of work and it was really busy"?

Context:
I work as a barista and I have at least one current regular who is Deaf and uses ASL. He's a pretty chill guy it seems, and we have had little conversations at times in sign language. He is very patient with me about it and I usually have something to write things down if need be (like to actually take this order or something). At one point we were talking when it was really empty/chill in the store and there wasn't much to do, but it ended up getting busy/we started getting more orders so I had asked him to wait a little moment and stepped away for a long time and he actually had to leave after a while. Normally when that happens (because that sort of thing happens a lot) I try to apologize for making them wait and needing to end the conversation.
I don't know if I'll see that guy again since I'm leaving soon, and if I do, for clarity, I imagine it might be beat to just write it down? But I was wondering if it would convey an apology for that situation to sign something like: "sorry + before + you + need + wait (long time/dragged out) + large/lot + work + really + busy" to mean essentially "sorry you needed to wait for a long time earlieI made you wait for a long time earlier, there was a lot of work and it was really busy"?

I was getting my front Brakes done on Thursday at the dealer I work at when the tech noticed that the previous dealer that worked on my car last year forgot to put my front passenger side shims back on 🧐. This wasn’t the first time that specific dealer has done something like this. 3 years ago I went for a low tire pressure due to having a nail on tire. They claimed they patched it and sent me on my merry way. I get home from the dealer and the same tire that they claimed they patched had the same white nail on it and was now flat. I drove back to them and cursed them tf out. They said they’ll take care of me and gave me a new tires for free. Heres the thing when I was discussing all of this with the service manager over the phone on Thursday they didn’t even have me in the system going back for the second time that day 😂. He tried to say “well there’s no way you or anyone can recall something that happened a year ago. I proceeded to break down everything that happened during that visit and even giving them names and where they were stationed at . These mf hit me back the next day that the best they can do is give a free oil change 😂😂.

The Salmon Father in Inuit folklore is the representative of all salmon like many other animal spirits and deities found in Inuit mythology. Other examples from that list include the Raven, the indweller of all ravens, the Bear (Nanuq), the indweller of bears and the Eagle Mother, the indweller of all eagles and the bringer of song and dance.
The Salmon Father (called by many names, Iqallijuq, Putulik, Eχaluqdjung) wields a great axe which he uses to chip a tree somewhere in the Land of the Birds. From the wood shaving come forth all fish, in other tales even reindeers, mountain sheep and other game animals. He is the helping spirit of the shamans, regulating the flow of fish and other game animals.
The Salmon Father isn't described in the most flattering way. It is said that he is hollow, empty where his entrails should be. When anybody approaches him, the Salmon Father asks in which way they've come. If they answer from behind, the Salmon Father guts them. They have to look at him from the sides. There are similar characters who are portrayed as hollow or skeletal, these include Siqiniq, the Sun Woman and the Disemboweling Woman. For the Sun's case, she was cut multiple times by angry people for making the days shorter during winter, causing her blood to spill out in the skies every evening.
In one of the many episodes of Kiviuq (one of the most popular heroes in Inuit mythology), he tries to find his wife, a goose spirit that has fled to the Land of the Birds. Kiviuq encounters the Salmon Father and tells him that he approached from his side. Appeased, the Salmon Father helps him on his quest by granting him a giant fish that becomes his ride to see his wife again.
Sources
Boas, F. (2013). The Central Eskimo.
Merkur, D. (1991). Powers which we do not know : the gods and spirits of the Inuit.
Saladin d'Anglure, B. (2018). Inuit Stories of Being and Rebirth: Gender, Shamanism, and the Third Sex. Canada: University of Manitoba Press.

One thing I want to make clear before I start writing is that I love my mother with all my heart and I would give my life for hers, that being said she has always displayed some traits that have always seemed weird to me. She hates and when I say hate I mean HATES anything to do with combat sports. I will give some background round on this as my father was a boxer with a amateur record of 95-5 and Professional of 17-0. But anytime I say something related to combat sports she freaks out and acts like I’m throwing my life away to violence or I’m going to be a fighter myself. She also gets very weird and somewhat creepy with the girls I like. I am into Asian women but my mother gets mad at me for this and she is always asking me what type of women I like and when I say Asian she gets pissed and refuses to talk to me until I apologize. Another thing is I do not feel comfortable discussing my future life with her as she will get pissed at me for not living the life she has pictured for me like being a doctor or lawyer. When I brought this up to her she got mad again. Earlier this year I asked if I could go to a sleepover and she said no because she thinks sleepovers are gay for boys. I also asked her if I could join the wrestling team and she asked if I was gay and wanted another man’s crotch in my face. Another thing she does is sexualize everything, for example I used to have a buddy on Xbox Named Gerbals ( yes that is how it was spelt ) and she asked if he liked to shove gerbils up his rectum as that is something that she heard of in the 70s ( I still have no clue what she was referencing ). This list doesn’t mean I have any Ill will towards my mother as I love her and she loves me but I just wanted to get this off my chest. Thank you for reading this and have a great day.

I have been covering a parental leave at a private school where I am the youngest teacher by far in the department (and one of the youngest teachers overall). My boss seemed hesitant to hire me because of my relative inexperience but my teaching demo went very well and so I'm here.
In general, this department seems to mostly hire older, experienced teachers, which I totally understand, but a week ago, I told my boss that I have an interview at Solomon Schechter in the area (since my current position is temporary), and in response to this my boss basically verbally offered me a job after telling me she had spoken with the admin and they all said I seemed to be doing a good job and they wanted me around. It was going to be for a temporary year-long position next year, but then she even said, "In December, we'd look at renewal but there's always a place for talented people." She also told me she'd come in for an observation on Monday and write up a contract by Monday afternoon. I like my current school (well, liked) and was honestly excited for this.
Fast forward to Monday. I was tempted to let go of my interview at the other school on Monday morning, but chose not to because I needed a formal contract. Interview went very well. Monday afternoon I had to teach at my current school and had that observation. This of course happened to be the day my otherwise lovely students decided not to cooperate with me because they didn't know they were starting a new topic, despite the fact that I had emailed them so the week before. I fully expected my boss to be observing me, but I did not expect the admin to be there too. And they were watching as the students sat there gaslighting me and I was holding firm and saying, nope, today isn't a work block.
Now, I think everyone who's taught for any amount of time knows that students try to gaslight their teachers all the time, but after the class, during my debrief with my boss, she basically blamed me for the students not knowing they were starting a new topic. She also blamed me for students seeming disengaged, which -- of course they were! They were mad at me for not giving them a work block. But she told me they were disengaged because I had spent too much time on historical background; for context, the other (more experienced) teacher teaching this class told me that she had spent half that class period on historical background that she felt was excessive. Because that class was an introduction to a new topic, I thought a dry introduction was fine, and while, admittedly, I could have been more prepared on the historical background itself, the class wasn't awful -- in the second half, once they got into the topic, they were very engaged, as even my boss acknowledged (but she said I needed to cut to the chase faster).
She didn't mention anything about the job, which I found suspicious, because she told me she'd get back to me by Monday afternoon. By Tuesday afternoon, the other school offered me a job, and then I emailed my boss, telling her they'd officially offered me a job but that I would prefer to stay at Gann. She congratulated me and then told me that actually they were not looking to hire me for the position they had listed, which was going to become two separate positions, one for the fall and one for the spring. She told me they wanted someone with more specific experience for the fall (totally understandable) but that I could apply to the spring position -- which is the same job I am currently in -- if I want, but that they're not "ready" to hire me right now for it.
Everything about this was so completely anger inducing. TBH it's a bullet dodged -- I don't care to work for a boss who expects perfection of this sort and blames student disengagement (for half of one class period) on me rather than on the students. I guess she sees me as a liability for some reason (probably age, if I had to guess), or maybe admin decided they hated my observation too.
I think this lack of professionalism flourishes in schools because everyone knows you can't leave the same way you can in corporate. I have less than a month of my contract left; had this been corporate, I would have been out the door already, but because I care about my students, I can't exactly do that.
Anyway, I'm done. I've taught Title I, I've taught private, and it looks like severe management problems are everywhere. Corporate may suck, but, fortunately, I still have one foot in that door and I am going to channel my energy toward it for the time being.

My (19 ftm) dad (53m) is not convinced I'm trans and refuses to use the name I chose. I was wondering what I could possibly say to him that will make him see who I am. I'll provide more details below, but that's the gist of it.
Extra info: I was ambushed into coming out last August, right before I left for college, because my parents didn't want me to go off to school and live a secret second life as a boy. I didn't really have any answers for them other than I didn't feel like a girl, and was thinking about being neutral/masculine. (I had had these thoughts for six years, and three years ago I tried to come out as genderfluid before realizing it wasn't right for me. This isn't out of the blue for my parents). Late January/early February, I called my mom (from school) and told her the new name and pronouns. She got upset and cried, but has since done really good work to understand and accept me, and I appreciate what she has done. My dad, however, flat out refused to use the new name, and every time he would visit me he would talk about how I am too young to know, afraid to grow up, nurturing and motherly, and will never be masculine. He also told me I need to stop being dysphoric and just appreciate myself.
I have tried every way of explaining it that I can think of, but he just doesn't believe me. I got a therapist and it's not like I'm medically transitioning yet. My mom wants me to wait to be sure I want it. I really don't know what to do with my dad. I want to have a good relationship with him. If any of you had a dad like this, were you able to change their mind? How?